Centre of Environmental Research (CER) In Cyprus

Student: Kranos Hlias
Professor: Tsiraki Sophia
Consultans Professors: Tsouras Vasilios
Dissertation Thesis at the National Technical University of Athens School of Architecture
Presentation Date: 04/11/2009

This project is designed to take place at the northeast of the town of Limassol, where one of the most important dams of Cyprus is built.

This place is also considered to be one of the most important swamps of the area.

The landscape is approached from the town in a very unique way. The banks of the river are parallel to the main road and lead to the dam. At the same time the alternative views lead to the field of action to a peninsula, which is accessible from the main road.

Movement in the field:

 My initial intention, while starting the project, was to manage the actions arising from the new spots, in such a way that they will not affect the natural movements and the existing paths of the area. 

By analyzing the landscape we observe a basic path line through the two existing hills which lead to the ΄΄plateau΄΄ with south-eastern orientation, facing the dam and the opposite village. The bigger of the two hills, is protecting the ΄΄plateau΄΄ from the western light.

Centre of the Environmental Research: 

The building program was separated in three units: briefing, educating and sports.

Briefing: A ΄΄pass-over΄΄ building is placed at the beginning of the complex. This structure is underground and does not affect the path line leading to the ΄΄plateau΄΄ .This building is for the environmental briefing of the visitors and is located at the beginning of the complex operating separately.        

Education:  This building is placed at the ΄΄plateau΄΄ and provides facilities of frequent use which require useful and controlled sunlight. It is also a two level structure supporting open-air movements combined with landscape.

Sports: This building will support: rowing, canoeing and climbing. It is placed next to the path line leading to the ΄΄plateau΄΄.

This structure is attached to the path line which embraces the bigger hill and is combined with the existing vertical rocks standing on the opposite side of the bigger hill. The fact that the placement of this building has a secondary role in the complex does not downgrade its importance, but creates a privacy shield, because it is not intended only for ECR needs.

In addition to the building program, the existing natural paths are developed to support the external botanic exhibition according to the ECR plan. An observatory is created facing the dam, and a new bridge is constructed to link the peninsula with the old watermill and the wider region.          

Water:

The water level is variable due to the seasonal rainfall affecting dramatically the scale of the landscape. Because of the artificial dam, the maximum water level defines the levels of the structures of the complex. Some parts of the composition are submerged; some float and others contain water.  

Materials - Landscape nature:

Each intervention presupposes destruction. Therefore the intervention needs prudence. Excavations are minimized, while a system of stonewalls is ΄΄creating΄΄ space, and together with the wooden structure, constitutes the building. 

The indoor spaces of the buildings are coordinated according to the open-air movement axes and external spaces, which are the continuity of the landscape.

On water level, the floor is made out of wooden boards, while the ground level is made out of soil. In this way the building is not separated from the natural territory and is open to the liquid element. Also, other natural materials are being used, such as stone, soil (rammed earth) and canes.

The objective of this study was to bring from this region and through the architecture, the moment of nature transforming into a building.